June movie reviews

In Theaters:

THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE

So I finally saw the year's biggest smash hit, which has made a billion dollars. THIS is a billion dollar movie? I mean, sure, it's better than that infamous 1993 movie. There are some fun game references that even I get (my SMB experience ended in the early 90s). The animation is colorful. But it is just an empty, ambition-less movie that really bored me. 

SANCTUARY

A two hander in which a man pays a dominatrix to humiliate him, and then gets blackmailed by her. (Can you believe I double featured this with SMB?) I thought this movie, set almost entirely in a hotel room, got repetitive, but man does this have a dazzling performance by the up and coming Margaret Qualley. 

TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS

The first Transformers movie in 5 years is in the continuity of Bumblebee, with no Hailee Steinfeld but with new characters both human and robot. I think this one does a really good job setting things up in the opening act. Anthony Ramos from In The Heights is really engaging. Pete Davidson is a fun voice choice as Mirage. There is a middle act that involves a search for a thing that really drags a lot, as we also get a lot of exposition about the titular beasts. But that 3rd act action blowout is really satisfying, and has probably the most coherent action of any of these movies. This is also the best version of Optimus Prime in any of these movies. He's a true badass for once. 

THE BOOGEYMAN

Solid horror movie that isn't particularly scary but which tells an involving story. Really good lead performance by the seriously hot Sophie Thatcher. 

THE BLACKENING

A horror comedy that leans heavily on the latter. A group of black friends run afoul of a haunted board game and have to play the game to survive. It has that thing where anytime a comedy tries to be too topical it can be too much with the pop culture references. But it has some of the biggest laughs I have had at any movie in a long time, and the ensemble (most of whom I did not know) work really well together. 

NO HARD FEELINGS

R rated comedies, even ones with big stars, did not used to be so rare. But we rarely get star driven comedies at all anymore and I wish we did. This one is carried mightily by Jennifer Lawrence, in her 1st performance in years that taps into that star quality she had bursting at the seams years ago. She is hired by a couple to date their geeky son. As is often the case this thing is fully predictable from minute one, but it's pretty good. I liked that the son is not presented as nothing but a punching bag, and that Lawrence isn't just mean. It pulls its punches with a lot of the raunchy humor, but swaps in more heart and character, and that's always a good deal. 

ASTEROID CITY

Wes Anderson doing his Wes Anderson thing, this time plopping us down in a 50s era small desert town. I didn't like the structure of how this is presented (just unnecessary clutter). But this may be the most fun of Anderson's films to just look at, and it has one of his best ensembles (MVPs are ScarJo, Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, and the oh so pretty Maya Hawke). Pretty funny too.

ELEMENTAL

Pixar has had a bit of a rocky road lately, with some streaming only movies and a couple big screen clunkers. Elemental is the closest we have had to the full Pixar experience in a while. I wouldn't place it amongst their very best, but it has a fun and engaging story, and has some of their very best animation. The realization of the fire people is so well done. 

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY

The final movie in this series that has frankly never done much for me. I think the previous 4 are all varying degrees of okay. And I think this is...okay. The opening and closing action sequences are both very good, and in general I always perked up for the action beats (most of which have to really hide Harrison Ford's inability to still do stunts). But in between these I was quite bored by the actual plot. Doesn't help that the supporting cast is a dud. Mads Mikkelsen is too on the nose to be interesting. Boyd Holbrook is completely wasted. There's a Short Round substitute who is mostly annoying. And the Phoebe Waller-Bridge character is just an asshole the whole movie. Some very impressive de-aging done on Ford though. 

Everything else:

RIVER'S EDGE 

From 1986, this is a pretty good drama about a group of teenagers, one of whom kills his girlfriend. It's very dated in some ways, but it reminded me of darker teen movies like Bully or Mean Creek. This is one of Keanu Reeves first movies. It also has a pre-Say Anything Ione Skye (🔥) and a wild performance by Crispin Glover that is either total shit or completely brilliant. 

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

I had never seen this one, widely considered to be the template for the modern romantic comedy. I liked it. The writing is just very good here. Billy Crystal is just great, and his chemistry with Meg Ryan really works.